Facts on the Ground
by rayemars
Summary: Azula, Zuko and Iroh: victory is twenty percent glory and eighty percent swift reconstruction. [Art of War 3]


Disclaimer: Avatar: the last Airbender belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.  
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When Azula walked into Zuko's room the next morning, she found him already awake. He was washing his face near the other end of the wall, using the delicate bowl and pitcher the room had come with; he looked over at her, startled, when the door opened.

"You're up early," she commented, raising an eyebrow.

"Habit," Zuko replied, looking back down at the bowl. He flicked the water off his hands before reaching for the towel nearby.

Azula made a sympathetic face. "That must have been such a tedious job."

Zuko rubbed the towel against his face a little harder at that, but his voice was relatively believable when he asked, "What happened?"

Azula strode past him and up to the window, moving to brush aside the heavy curtain. It caught immediately, and there was a scraping noise. When she looked down, she found that Zuko had secured the bottom with furniture, on both sides, so that it couldn't be shifted without alerting him.

Azula pushed the chair holding her end aside with her foot, pulling the curtain in the opposite direction as she did. Behind her, she heard Zuko walk up; and when he stopped beside her and lifted the chair enough that she could tug the curtain free easily, she noticed the wary look on his face from the corner of her eye. Azula ignored it and swept the curtain aside.

"The trains," she replied. "How did you enter as a refugee? What was the process?"

Zuko frowned slightly, and looked down at the city as well.

"There was a boat system," he answered after a moment. "There's a ferry system at Full Moon Bay that takes refugees to the train station."

"_All_ refugees?" she replied. "The lower ring must be filthy with people by now."

"No, only those with passports get across," he answered. He was barely finished speaking before his eyes widened slightly.

"Ah. Where did you get yours?" she asked, with the same casually questioning tone.

". . . I don't know."

Azula turned her head and looked at him.

After several silent moments, Zuko bent his head slightly, still looking out the window. "Un--Iroh went off on his own and got them for both of us. I don't think he trusted me to know how."

His voice had changed slightly. He wasn't completely lying any more, but still. . . .

"Very well," she replied. "I'll just have to ask him, then."

Zuko's shoulders tensed, and his fingers curled slightly. When Azula turned around again, she did so facing him rather than giving him a shot at her back.

"Come on," she said as she began to walk away. "I've been meeting with the rest of the government officials. Things will go smoother if they see that both of the Fire Lord's children are in charge."

_Fewer people will make a scene and earn themselves a death sentence_, was the implied half of her sentence; Zuko thought he knew her that well. He followed her out of the room a moment later.

—

There were not many officials to meet with, in truth. Excluding the wives, few people had had access to the king, and roughly a third of them had been killed yesterday. Most knew of Long Feng instead, so it was Long Feng whose seal was on the appearance orders, Long Feng who stood at the bottom of the dais while Azula sat on the throne and Zuko stood beside her, and more often than not, Long Feng who they gaped at as he explained in a well-rehearsed tone that the Princess and Prince of the Fire Nation had overthrown the Earth King.

Things were settled by the early afternoon.

—

She ate a quick, late lunch, and then made sure that Zuko was firmly ensconced with Mai and Ty Lee, with orders to determine whether the story about the hypnotized Joo Dee girls was true, before taking two Dai Li agents with her to the dungeons.

The leather gag that had been put on Iroh was a good idea; it would take far longer to burn than cloth and harm him more in the process, but with stones attached to the ends, it was easier for the Dai Li to manipulate that metal would have been. Azula made a note to ask who had thought of it, commend him, and keep a closer watch on him.

She also made a note to find out from Long Feng the details of what training regiments the agents went through.

Azula waited in a side room (stone, so that there was no metal for him to heat, and large enough that close proximity wouldn't be dangerous) for the Dai Li to bring Iroh to her. When one of them shoved on his shoulders, Iroh knelt and watched her face with a blank expression that she'd expected.

"Hello, Uncle," Azula said, folding her arms. "Zuko told me that the two of you entered this city by using passports."

His face didn't change, but she couldn't read much from that alone. Azula went on. "According to the Grand Secretariat, there's no way you should have been able to get those, not without being caught. So how did you do it?"

Iroh gave her a pleasant smile. "I won them in a game of Pai Sho," he replied.

As expected.

"And where was your old tea shop located?"

"This city is so large, it's difficult to remember. . . ."

Azula nodded once, and then turned towards the door.

"Princess Azula?" the agent on the left, the one who'd been keeping the gag ready, asked hesitantly.

"You heard the prisoner," she replied, waving. "He's full and doesn't feel the need to eat tomorrow or the rest of today."

Behind her, Iroh snorted quietly, and Azula understood him perfectly.

_You underestimate me_, he was mocking her.

"Oh, no, uncle," she replied, glancing over her shoulder and meeting his condescension with a smirk. "It's not you I expect this to work on."

Iroh's eyes narrowed, and then the Dai Li forced the gag back in, twisting it into a knot at the back. Azula left.

The second agent followed her as the first one took Iroh back to his cell. "Princess Azula?"

"What?" she demanded, but not shortly enough to show how she was irritated. Troops required a consistent leader if they were to have any worth.

"The shop was located on the west side of the lower ring," he answered, and she looked back at him. "It wasn't on my route, but I know that several people assigned there frequented it. I can have one of them give you the address."

The corner of her mouth lifted slightly. "Do that."

"Did you want us to refrain from giving him water as well?" he added, half-turning to follow the other agent.

"Do you know the amount to give to prevent him from dehydrating too quickly?" she replied.

"Yes ma'am."

"Good." Azula nodded. "Also, who was the one who thought of the gag?"

—

"It was really cool!" Ty Lee continued. "You just said the phrase and their eyes went all black and they did anything you said." She made an exploding gesture with her hands to emphasize the point.

Zuko gave her a look of complete disgust, which was the first time he'd let his emotions show openly. "They were brainwashing their _own people!_"

"Better theirs than ours," Azula replied, comfortably settled in the chair in her central room. Mai was in another one on the same side of the room that Zuko was pacing, which was opposite of the area where Ty Lee was. "According to Long Feng, there's nearly a hundred people out there with the same indoctrination. That'll be useful." She brushed her bangs aside. "Anything else?"

"Long Feng humbly requests an audience with you to discuss certain problems that have arisen by the Dai Li's old compound having been destroyed to thwart the Avatar," Ty Lee rattled off.

"And the dyeing will be finished by tomorrow morning, so we can have decent clothes again," Mai added.

"How well-mannered," Azula murmured. _He'll turn as soon as he sees an opening_. "Excellent."

She stood up fluidly and stepped away from the chair. "That's all."

After she heard the door close, Azula clasped her hands behind her back and turned around. "Yes, Zuzu?"

He _had_ moved closer to the door, and she didn't count the reflexive glare he started to give her for the name. "When did you want to send news out to the Fire Nation army?"

Azula smiled. "Later, of course, after everything's in order." She tilted her head just a fraction to the left. "Once the populace sees that the nobility and the Dai Li have been completely converted, our men will be able to enter the city with a minimum of injuries. Their worst threat will be a few inevitable skirmishes."

Zuko continued to watch her. Azula knew he wouldn't call her on suddenly caring about the foot soldiers, so instead she straightened her head and shifted her smile slightly.

"The city that didn't fall to a siege and our most advanced technology will be under complete military control with a minimum of casualties. Father can find nothing wrong with us taking the time to guarantee that."

She turned around again, moving towards the table and the window beyond. "Not publicly, at least."

Quiet.

Soon, when the door scraped lightly along the floor as Zuko opened it, Azula said, "You'll be awake early again tomorrow?"

"Do you need me for something?"

She glanced over her shoulder at him again, still smiling and with her hands still clasped behind her. "Like I _said_, showing the populace. I'll have your clothes sent to you."

Zuko tilted his face down slightly rather than truly bowing, and left with no other reply.

There had been several meanings in her previous statement; as she sent one of the Dai Li to tell Long Feng to go to the throne room, Azula wondered how long it would take Zuko to work out all of them.

—

"It isn't a matter of quarters," Long Feng continued. "The girls have their own issued apartments. But as you saw, allowing two or more to meet without controls quickly creates confusion. I wanted to know if you'd be willing to relocate them in a more spread out pattern around the city, before the army enters."

"Are you implying the Fire Nation army might not be able to handle them?" she replied, hands folded in her lap as she sat on the throne.

"No, Princess Azula," he answered smoothly. "Only that several hysterical women will be a nuisance."

"How long will it take?"

"Two days at the most; the orders to pack can be sent out immediately, and arrangements settled by tonight. A few small families will be moved into the old apartments, to cut down on the time."

Azula raised an eyebrow. "So much trouble. Would it take longer to deprogram them for some reason?"

Long Feng paused almost imperceptibly before replying: "No one can be 'deprogrammed' after attending the classes."

"You hesitated."

Long Feng gave a small, self-deprecating smile. "There was one boy who managed to push off his orders, but he was aided by the Avatar."

"Who?"

"Some teenage mercenary . . . he'll be listed in the records."

"I want those immediately," Azula said. Long Feng bowed in acknowledgement.

"One other thing," she said, as the man took a step back. "How long will it take to rebuild your hypnotizing system?"

Long Feng glanced up at her without lifting his head, but soon straightened again. ". . . Not too long," he replied. "The equipment itself is simple; it's locating a suitably silent and dark environment that will take the most time."

Azula went back to the previous topic without comment. "Move the Joo Dee girls by the day after tomorrow. That's all."

"As you wish, Princess Azula," Long Feng said with another bow, before leaving.

—

She arranged for their dinner to be set in the common room in Mai and Ty Lee's quarters; when the records arrived, Azula left Zuko there and returned to her own to read over them.

When she was done, she remained awake for the majority of the night, weighing advantages against risks.


End file.
